2/12/03
Softball: Some Light Midweek Reading
Dear People,
Congratz to all on last week’s superb 15-14 return to the taut and feral intensity of softball as it’s meant to be---ruthlessly competitive, frightfully sensual, and replete with moments of stark ontological grandeur. Of course I don’t mean ontological in the sniveling sense reflected by such musings as "Technically, my team lost, but can you really ever "lose" by a single run if the seconds before the big bang remain as intellectually annoying as ever?" No, I obviously don’t mean it that way, although to a certain extent, I think the point’s well taken.
Rather, I refer you to the 7th inning, with my team down by two and Tom throwing those really nasty high pitches that seemed to arc in some kind of warped Einsteinian sport-space. The fact is that after I dug myself into an unseemly 0-2 count on two hitless swings, I looked deep into my own little inner-athlete and was suddenly faced with the startling epiphany that as a batter, I wasn’t confronting the stern and sassy Tominator himself, but rather the ball qua ball---an inanimate leather orb of limited intelligence that simply cannot compete with the fundamental advantage of basic biochemical sentience. I can’t tell you how giddy this made me feel, and while it’s true that I still immediately popped up in a desperate attempt to avoid striking out, I also know that I walked away from the batter’s box with a truly profound understanding of what it is to be human---deeply self-aware, vulnerable and tremulous, and yet utterly at peace with my own magnificent ineptitude.
In any case, I’m not writing you about discomfiting issues in recreational metaphysics simply because I happened to approach the computer on a cold Tuesday evening with the sudden realization that I had absolutely nothing to say. That’s just not my scene, and indeed, I can assure you that if the ink ever runs dry, I’ll be the first to grab the laconic bull by the balls and just announce the damn game. No, my friends, the point is that this weekend happens to mark the 104th anniversary of the birth of Martin Heidigger, the eminent aerobic ontologist who articulated the vital distinction between athletic being PER SE and AN athletic being. As everyone knows today, "no being, in the sense of A being, can represent beingness because it is precisely by virtue of being that something IS being and not vice versa," but I can promise you that this was hardly so obvious just a short century ago. And therefore, there will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11AM, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning…Raymond
2/13/03
Softball: Precautions for Troubled Times
Dear People,
There will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11AM, and as of now, there are still THREE slots left.
Please be aware that I am fully cognizant of the possibility that North Korea could launch a nuclear tipped Taeo Dong 2 ICBM at the California Coast while we’re innocently frolicking at the park. For some reason I’ve been able to live with this realization since 1994, but because I’ve always craved the sight of your aerobic innocence, I never wanted to talk about it.
However, now that jitterization is official public policy, I can assure you that I am taking this threat seriously, and will immediately move to guarantee your recreational safety. Therefore, until further notice and as per suggestions from the relevant civil authorities, your $2 field fee will include immediate post-nuke access to an ample supply of duck tape and goose liver….Raymond 845-7552
PS: If there are dispicable torrents of rain between now and Sunday or just general climatic ambiguity, be sure to check email before heading for the game.
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